crossfit

    CrossFit

    What is CrossFit?

    If you’ve never done CrossFit before, it can seem daunting, confusing, or overwhelming. You may not be sure if its right for you. Please know that there are NO prerequisites for age, fitness level or experience to get started! CrossFit is for anyone who wants to ‘life’ better. We all have to pick up children, and bags of groceries, carry heavy objects, and climb to reach out of reach objects… CrossFit is for EVERYONE who want to be good at moving their body, bullet proofing their joints, and being better at everyday life. Forever!

    How it works

    If CrossFit is new to you, you might be wondering what happens during a class, how it all works, and even if you are able to do this. Let me put your mind at ease, all you need to do it show up!

    The way a CrossFit class is structured is firstly, there will be instructions from your coach, they will explain every movement, demonstrate them and make sure that everyone is doing them correctly. There will be a warm up, skill or strength work, a WOD (workout of the day) and a cool down. All of this is done together as a group and everyone is there to learn and get one percent better!

    If you’d like to read up on the principles of CrossFit for a deeper understanding before getting started, here is some official CrossFit literature.

    Constantly varied

    This means that every workout will be different, incorporating many different disciplines like gymnastic movements, weightlifting, plyometrics, running and so much more!

    High-intensity

    In this case, intensity refers to power output. Meaning as your fitness level increases, your capacity will also increase. We aim to keep elevated heart rates for maximum conditioning adaptation. High intensity is very relative and must not be compared to someone else’s efforts, but to your own as time goes by and your fitness level increases.

    Functional movement

    This simply means that there is a carry-over between the athletic movements we practice in class and the everyday movements of your daily life. We aim to be able to perform many different positions with full range of motion for the rest of our life.

    10 Pillars of CrossFit

    If your goal is optimum physical competence, then all the general physical skills must be considered:

    1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance — The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.

    2. Stamina — The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.

    3. Strength — The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.

    4. Flexibility — The ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.

    5. Power — The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.

    6. Speed — The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.

    7. Coordination — The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.

    8. Agility — The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.

    9. Balance — The ability to control the placement of the body’s center of gravity in relation to its support base.

    10. Accuracy — The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity. (Thanks to Jim Cawley and Bruce Evans of Dynamax)

    Modalities of training

    At CrossFit Inner Strength, we aim to train all of these modalities:

    Practice

    This is referring to practicing a skill. The aim of this type of session is to keep the heart rate quite low and focus on learning, improving or mastering a skill. This is perhaps the most underrated type of training and yields great rewards.

    Training

    This is what most CrossFitters do on a daily basis. Metcons (metabolic conditioning) is done with a high heart rate, and a relatively heavy load. Here we are creating a neurological and endocrine adaptation that will make us stronger and fitter. In this type of training, we want to make ourselves better by pushing some boundaries but still staying inside our technical threshold in order to improve our conditioning as well as our movement patterns.

    Competition

    This is full send! This is where you can feed off your neighbour’s energy, and completely sell out. Go at maximum pace, with maximum intensity and maximum loads. This type of training should only be done on occasion because it yields the least amount of reward compared to the other training modalities. In this type of training, we tend to forget about moving well, with the goal of winning. So while it is fun, and a crucial part of training, it should not be done everyday!